Tax Attorney in Santa Clara County

The U.S. Tax Court most often hears Santa Clara County matters at its San Francisco trial sessions at the Phillip Burton Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco CA 94102. A Santa Clara County petitioner designates "San Francisco, California" as the place of trial on the petition under Tax Court Rule 140. Some calendars schedule sessions at the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building in San Jose at 280 South 1st Street when docket volume supports it. Petitioners may also designate Los Angeles (Roybal Federal Building) where travel and counsel logistics favor it.

The pattern is structural. Federal supplemental withholding on RSU vests defaults to 22 percent (37 percent above $1 million in supplemental wages). California's top bracket is 13.3 percent. The all-in marginal rate on a Santa Clara County tech employee's RSU vest often crosses 50 percent once the Mental Health Services Act 1 percent surtax under Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §17043 kicks in above $1 million of taxable income. The shortfall lands on April 15 of the following year. Resolution paths: a federal Installment Agreement under IRC §6159, a FTB Form 3567 payment plan, supplemental withholding elections (W-4 Step 4(c)) for the rest of the current year, and estimated-tax payments under IRC §6654 to break the cycle going forward.

Several options. First, a Disqualifying Disposition in the same calendar year as exercise converts AMT preference treatment to regular ordinary income on the smaller spread, often a smaller bill. Second, where the share price collapsed after exercise, the loss on sale generates a capital-loss carryforward that combines with the AMT credit under IRC §53 over time as regular tax exceeds tentative minimum tax. Third, payment of the AMT can be structured through an Installment Agreement under IRC §6159. Fourth, reasonable-cause penalty abatement is available where the AMT was unexpected and the underpayment was a good-faith estimate error. Fifth, where the company failed before the lock-up expired, the worthless-stock deduction under IRC §165(g) may apply. We model each path before recommending.

Possibly. Section 1202 lets a non-corporate shareholder exclude up to the greater of $10 million or 10 times basis on gain from the sale of qualified small-business stock held more than five years. The stock must be issued by a domestic C corporation, the company must have less than $50 million of gross assets at and immediately after issuance, more than 80 percent of assets must be used in a qualified trade or business, and the shareholder must have acquired the stock at original issuance. Common Santa Clara County disqualifiers: LLC-to-C-corp conversions without proper basis tracking, redemptions that strip out the QSBS character, and exit before the five-year hold. California does not conform — the full gain is California-taxable. Plan three to five years before the exit.

The 30-day window under IRC §83(b) is strict. Late elections are not available under the regulations. The consequence is ordinary-income recognition at each vest at the then-fair-market value rather than at grant. For founders and early employees of fast-appreciating Santa Clara County startups, the result is a cumulative income figure that can run into seven figures across the vest cliff. Mitigation paths: structuring the income recognition through a Disqualifying Disposition for stock-option grants, exploring Section 1202 QSBS qualification on the eventual sale despite the §83(b) miss, evaluating tax-deferred exchanges into a private fund where structures permit, and negotiating a Partial Pay IA across the vest schedule so the cash side does not collapse. We work this in coordination with corporate counsel where the employment agreement is still being negotiated.

Yes, in almost every case. FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) is required of any U.S. person — including H-1B visa holders who are U.S. tax residents under the substantial-presence test — with foreign financial accounts whose aggregate high balance exceeds $10,000 at any single point during the calendar year. Indian NRE, NRO, fixed-deposit, demat, and PPF accounts all count. The form is filed separately from your 1040, electronically through the BSA E-Filing System, by April 15 with an automatic October 15 extension. Form 8938 under IRC §6038D is an additional layer with higher thresholds. Past non-filing is addressed through Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures for non-willful conduct, the IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice where willfulness is in play, or the Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures where no underlying tax was owed. Penalties for unaddressed FBAR exposure are severe: non-willful penalties run per-account (after Bittner v. United States), and willful penalties reach the greater of $100,000 inflation-adjusted or 50 percent of the high balance per year.

California uses the domicile test at Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §17014 and FTB Publication 1031, weighing nine factors: physical-presence days, location of family, location of primary residence, driver's license, vehicle registration, voter registration, banking, professional licenses, and business or social ties. Retaining a Palo Alto, Los Altos Hills, Saratoga, or Los Gatos home as a "second home" while claiming Nevada residency is the most common reason Santa Clara County departing-resident audits fail. Sending children to Stanford while claiming a Reno move is another red flag. The defense is a documented clean break at the time of the move: new driver's license, new voter registration, sale or lease of the California home, transfer of professional licenses, and a careful physical-presence log under the 9-month presumption rule. The stakes are high in Silicon Valley because the FTB chases the year that the IPO or secondary sale closed.

FTB suspension under Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §23301 happens when an entity fails to pay the $800 minimum franchise tax, fails to file the annual return, or fails to file a Statement of Information with the California Secretary of State. A suspended entity loses the right to sue, defend a lawsuit, or contract in California courts. Contracts signed during suspension are voidable — including subscription agreements with new investors. To revive, file the missing returns, pay the tax plus penalties and interest under §19131 and §19132, and submit FTB Form 3557 (revivor request). The SOS Statement of Information must also be brought current. Once both agencies confirm compliance, the FTB issues a Certificate of Revivor. We have closed this in days when the Series A timeline demanded it.

AB 5 codified the ABC test from Dynamex into Cal. Lab. Code §2775. To classify a developer or designer as a 1099 contractor, the company must show (A) freedom from control and direction, (B) the work falls outside the company's usual course of business, and (C) the contractor is engaged in an independently established trade. For a Santa Clara County software consultancy, prong B is often the killer — if your business is software development and the contractors are writing software for clients, the work is inside your usual course. Professional-services exemptions and business-to-business carve-outs may apply depending on the contracting structure. Reclassification produces back UI, ETT, SDI, and PIT withholding for three years plus penalties under Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code §1126. The defense is exemption analysis, B2B-structure documentation, and protest filings before assessment.

The IRS San Jose Taxpayer Assistance Center is at 55 South Market Street, San Jose CA 95113 — downtown, blocks from the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building and the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Appointments are required and made through apps.irs.gov/app/office-locator or by calling 844-545-5640. Oakland and San Francisco TACs are also options depending on the matter. For most resolution work, in-person visits are not required — we represent clients by Form 2848 PoA and route notices directly to counsel.

A Notice of Federal Tax Lien recorded with the Santa Clara County Clerk-Recorder clouds title until released, subordinated, discharged, or withdrawn. For refinance, the typical path is subordination under IRC §6325(d): Form 14134 (Application for Certificate of Subordination of Federal Tax Lien) shows the IRS that the refinance proceeds will pay down the tax debt or that subordination otherwise helps collection. If the underlying liability has been paid, request release on Form 668(Z). If you are on a streamlined IA under $25,000, lien withdrawal under Fresh Start (Form 12277) is available and clears title cleaner than release. The FTB State Tax Lien parallel under Cal. Gov. Code §7174 has its own release and subordination procedures. Saratoga, Los Altos Hills, and Palo Alto property values mean substantial equity is often available to satisfy the lien on refinance, which strengthens the subordination case.

Treatment depends on what you sold. Sale of vested ISO or NSO stock held more than one year past exercise (and two years past grant for ISOs) qualifies for long-term capital gain treatment, with the AMT credit carryforward under IRC §53 in play on the ISO side. Sale of RSU-vested shares is similar — basis is the vest-date FMV that was already taxed as ordinary income, so the gain over that basis is capital. Sales of unvested grants through synthetic-secondary structures may be re-characterized as compensation. If the company is a qualifying QSBS issuer and you held more than five years, Section 1202 exclusion applies on the federal side, but California taxes the full gain. Tender-offer participation by Apple, Google, NVIDIA, Meta, or Adobe employees during a secondary window has the same federal-state mismatch. We model the federal and California positions before quarterly estimates are due so the underpayment penalty under IRC §6654 does not stack.

No. The firm is headquartered at 1100 S. Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles, and we represent clients across all 58 California counties. Santa Clara County engagements run by phone, secure portal, and email; in-person meetings happen by appointment at the LA office for clients who prefer face-to-face. We appear at the FTB San Jose-area field office, U.S. Tax Court San Francisco trial sessions at 450 Golden Gate Avenue, the IRS San Jose TAC at 55 South Market Street, the U.S. District Court at the Peckham Federal Building, and the Santa Clara County Superior Court Downtown Superior Court as case calendaring requires.